


this feeling begins just like a spark

by aintitnifty



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Gen, Post-Series, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-28
Updated: 2013-12-28
Packaged: 2018-01-06 10:16:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1105618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aintitnifty/pseuds/aintitnifty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tempers flare when ex-partners meet again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	this feeling begins just like a spark

**Author's Note:**

> Oh hey, I'm finally posting this. I wrote it about a month or so ago in order to get some feelings out after marathoning the first season of this show and enjoying it _immensely_.
> 
> So... yep. Enjoy!
> 
> (Title taken from "Here With Me" by Robot Koch ft. Susie Suh, forever and ever my Ginoza song amen.)

It’s been six months and there’s a gun between them again, a sleek black Dominator held steadily in Ginoza’s freezing hands.

Or at least he hopes it’s steady. But even a fleeting glance from Kougami’s face to the gun would draw attention to any possible wavering, so Ginoza grits his teeth and tightens his grip on the gun and does not blink.

Kougami’s lip is bleeding (and Ginoza almost laughs at how familiar that is), and he looks rather thin. He’s holding his hands at shoulder-height, palms forward in the universal sign of surrender, and his sharp eyes haven’t once left Ginoza’s face.

There’s no one else around. They lost the rest of Ginoza’s team after Ginoza spotted Kougami in the abandoned warehouse district where they were investigating a murder. He had given chase without a word to his colleagues. Kougami moved like a panther in the shadows, of course, but years of practice allowed Ginoza to keep up with him until a slick patch of ice robbed Kougami of both his footing and his lead.

The slush-covered streets around them are deserted, the warehouses on all sides long since gutted and abandoned. Two dingy streetlights cast uneven pools of amber light over the cracked lot they ended up in, but other than that, there’s no light. No sound.

It’s like they’re the last two people on earth.

“So?” Kougami jerks his chin toward the Dominator, his voice barely audible over the distance between them. “What’s the verdict? How far gone am I now?”

Ginoza’s fingers tighten convulsively around the gun’s hilt. The automated voice in his head sounds just as calm as always, rattling off the usual instructions (“ _Aim calmly and disable the target_ ”), but there’s a rushing sound in his ears and he pays the voice no attention. He watches the little red square bounce on Kougami’s chest, too shaky for a precise hit. Numbers and statistics flit in and out of his sight, but just before the voice can declare by how much Kougami’s Crime Coefficient is over regulation ( _if it’s higher than 265 it’s definitely gone up since the last time Ginoza checked, he always checked, he had it memorized, always prayed it wouldn’t go further_ ), he jerks the gun’s muzzle up and away, cutting off the polite little voice.

Kougami stares at him for one silent moment, then slowly lowers his hands.

“You’re not—?” he begins, but Ginoza cuts him off.

“No,” he says, lowering the Dominator to his side and then letting it drop with a clatter to the concrete.

“Oh.” Some of the tension leaves Kougami’s shoulders. “Well. That makes this easier, then.”

“Easier for who?” Ginoza asks. “I’m already in trouble for running after you.” His lips quirk into a wry half-smile. “Not supposed to leave the supervision of my Inspector.”

Kougami’s expression clouds, going soft. “Akane, right?”

“I think she’ll understand, considering the circumstances.”

Kougami moves for the first time since lowering his hands, raising one arm to swipe at his bloodied lip with the sleeve of his jacket.

“How is she?” He pauses, arm still near his mouth, and his gray-green eyes narrow. “How are you?”

Ginoza feels his hands clench, feels the blood rush to his cheeks, but he doesn’t remember throwing the punch or exactly how they end up on their asses on the pavement, rolling around like schoolboys. By the time he realizes what he’s done, his knuckles are split and aching, there’s a new shiner gleaming on Kougami’s cheekbone, and they’re both panting and bleeding and covered in freezing cold slush.

Ginoza ends up straddling Kougami, his hands curled tightly into Kougami’s collar.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Ginoza growls, and ducks his head, fighting to regain at least a little bit of composure.

“Gino?” Kougami asks, his voice low and rough.

“You left,” Ginoza says, without even meaning to. His head is bowed and he stares blankly at the tiny chunks of dirty ice caught in the fur lining of Kougami’s jacket. “You saw what happened to my father. You knew Kagari was gone. Akane needed you. _I_ needed you. And you just… _left_.” His fingers tighten on the last word, jerking Kougami upward even as he bows further down, until his misty breath—pale in the dim light—begins to melt the ice crystals on Kougami’s jacket. He keeps his face hidden, not trusting himself to keep from showing too much, even when a cautious hand touches his hair.

“I had to.” Kougami curls his fingers against Ginoza’s scalp, just enough to be painful. “I killed him, Gino. There’s no way I could’ve stuck around and not been considered a criminal. I didn’t want you to have to deal with that. Or Akane. If she’d been the one assigned to find me, if she’d been told to kill m—”

“I know,” Ginoza says. “ _Damnit_ , I know.” He takes a deep, shuddering breath, forcing himself upright so he can finally look Kougami in the eye again. “But that doesn’t mean I forgive you,” he says, glaring, and Kougami ruffles Ginoza’s already mussed hair.

“Understood.” His hand drifts a little and he touches Ginoza’s temple, right where his glasses would normally rest. “You stopped wearing glasses.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Ginoza closes his eyes for a moment. “Just something Dad said. Before… you know.”

“Gino.”

Ginoza opens his eyes to find Kougami staring straight up at him. “I’m sorry. About what happened to Pops. And I’m sorry I left. I should have at least—“ He breaks off, takes a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry, okay?”

Ginoza lets the silence stretch just long enough for Kougami to start looking uncomfortable, then reaches out to flick the bruise already forming on Kougami’s cheekbone.

“Agh!” Kougami claps a hand to his face, looking rather scandalized, and Ginoza raises an eyebrow.

“I’ve been practicing my right hook,” he says. “Could you tell?”

“You’re an ass.”

“And you’re an idiot.”

Kougami’s lips twitch, and he lies back against the cement with a sigh.

“Well,” he says, “I didn’t expect to come out of this reunion with so many battle scars, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Is that what this is, then? A reunion? I thought you couldn’t come back without being hunted down.”

“I’m sick of hiding. I’ll keep a low profile, but I’m planning on sticking around for a while. Somebody’s got to keep an eye on you. Unless, of course,” Kougami adds, glancing up at Ginoza, “you’re planning on turning me in.”

And of course that’s when the communicator at Ginoza’s belt hums with static, and then a harried female voice cuts through.

“ _Hound 1. Hound 1, do you copy? This is Shepherd 2. Come in._ ”

“The rookie?” Kougami asks.

“The very same,” Ginoza says, finally clambering off of Kougami. He brushes some of the ice and grit from his coat before reaching down to offer Kougami a hand up. “I should at least let her know I haven’t run off in some ill-advised escape attempt before she sends the others after me.”

“Smart.” Kougami shoves his hands into his pockets and glances up at one of the two streetlights, which has begun to gutter. “Can’t be too careful.”

Ginoza pulls out the communicator and speaks into it: “Shepherd 2, this is Hound 1. I thought I caught a lead. I was wrong. We’ll reconvene near the base.”

“ _Thank you, Hound 1. Hurry back._ ” The female voice sounds relieved, and Kougami smiles a little.

“Even as an Enforcer they all still depend on you,” he says. “That’s my Gino.”

Ginoza stows the communicator back in his pocket. “I’ll expect you to keep your word, you know,” he says as he steps over to his abandoned Dominator, still lying in the slush.

“My word on what?”

“That you’ll be around.” He slips the Dominator under his jacket, making sure it’s locked. He then fixes Kougami with a glare. “Akane won’t believe a story about me running off after a fake lead. She knows me too well.”

Kougami winces. “Good point. So… you’ll tell her?”

“I think it would be best.”

Kougami nods, then tilts his head toward the alleyway they’d run through earlier. “You’d better go before they send a search party.”

“Right.” Ginoza turns to go, then hesitates for a moment, glancing over his shoulder at Kougami. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Don’t leave again,” Ginoza says, and starts to walk away.

The last thing he hears is a quiet chuckle behind him, and Kougami saying, “I’m not going anywhere.”


End file.
